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PHY 110: Astronomy and Cosmology Galaxies and Cosmology
Spring 2004 Prof. Cote's Website • Astronomy at Rutgers • Department of Physics & Astronomy • Rutgers University
Last updated April 28 , 2004
Course Home Page
Students with Disabilities Evening Childcare
Prof. Patrick Cote; Office hours: Monday 9:50am to 11:10am (Period 2)
Dmitry Melnikov: melnikov@physics.rutgers.edu
Class Hours and Venue
Period 6 (4:30-5:50 pm), Tuesdays and Thursdays
Physics Lecture Hall11:59pm each Tuesday.
Midterm Exam: Tuesday, March 9th, 8:00-9:00pm.
Final Exam: Tuesday May 11th, 4:00-5:00pm.
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This course describes the structure and evolution of stars, the properties of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and the past, present and future of the Universe. There are no college-level prerequisites, but typical high school algebra and science preparation are assumed. The companion course, PHY109, covers the historical foundations of astronomy, the tools and techniques used by modern astronomers, the planets, moons, and minor bodies of our solar system, and the processes by which they formed. The two courses are independent; if you wish to take both, they can be taken in either order or concurrently.
Note that this course is intended for non-science majors. Students with college-level math and science credits should consider taking PHY341 and/or PHY342, instead. Those courses cover much of the same material as PHY110 and PHY109, but at a more advanced level.Click here for a copy of the course syllabus (in pdf format).
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This is the official website of Section 1 of PHY110. The instructor for this course and section (and the author of this website) is:
Prof. Patrick Cote Room 309 Physics and Astronomy Building (Serin Labs), Busch Campus Phone: (732)-445-2544In addition to my regularly scheduled office hours, I am available to offer help and answer questions for a few minutes just before, or just after, each lecture.
The grader for this course is:
Dmitry Melnikov Room 217 Allison Road Classroom Building (ARC), Busch Campus Phone: (732)-445-6888 Email: melnikov@physics.rutgers.eduPlease address questions about grading to Mr. Melnikov.
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My office hour is Monday period 2 (9:50-11:10). During that time, I can be found at the above location.
I prefer not to provide individual help with course material by email. However, questions on logistics, etc, can be sent to me at:
pcote@physics.rutgers.edu
Some suggestions on the use of email are given here.
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The lecture schedule is posted below, along with the relevant material from the textbook, and links to the lecture notes. Notes for each lecture will generally be posted by noon on the day that the lecture is given. To download the notes, you will be prompted for a username and a password; the username is PHY110 (capital letters), and the password will be given in class.
Downloading the notes from the web is not a substitute for attending class: the material is discussed in much more detail in class than it is in the notes. In addition, animations and movies, which are sometimes shown in class, are not included in the notes. Several questions on the exams will be based on these videos and movies.
LECTURE
DATE
TOPICS
MATERIAL
NOTES
1
Jan 20
(Tue.)INTRODUCTION.
COURSE OVERVIEW AND GOALS.
2
Jan 22
(Thr.)CELESTIAL SPHERE, MOTIONS AND CYCLES
Chapter 1
3
Jan 27
(Tue.)LAWS OF MOTION AND GRAVITY
Chapter 2
4
Jan 29
(Thr.)RADIATION
Chapter 3
5
Feb 3
(Tue.)SPECTRA
Chapter 4
6
Feb 5
(Thr.)TELECOPES
Chapter 5
7
Feb 10
(Tue.)THE SUN
Chapter 16
8
Feb 12
(Thr.)THE SUN (cont'd), OBSERVING THE STARS
Chapter 17
9
Feb 17
(Tue.)OBSERVING THE STARS
Chapter 17
10
Feb 19
(Thr.)THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM
Chapter 18
Feb 24
(Tue.)No Lecture
11
Feb 26
(Thr.)STAR FORMATION
Chapter 19
12
Mar 2
(Tue.)STELLAR EVOLUTION
Chapter 20
13
Mar 4
(Thr.)STELLAR EXPLOSIONS
Chapter 21
Mar 9
(Tue.)Midterm Exam
14
Mar 11
(Thr.)NEUTRON STARS AND BLACK HOLES
Chapter 22
Mar 16
(Tue.)No Lecture: Spring Break
Mar 18
(Thr.)No Lecture: Spring Break
15
Mar 23
(Tue.)NEUTRON STARS AND BLACK HOLES
Chapter 22
16
Mar 25
(Thr.)THE MILKY WAY
Chapter 23
17
Mar 30
(Tue.)THE MILKY WAY
Chapter 23
18
Apr 1
(Thr.)NORMAL GALAXIES
Chapter 24
19
Apr 6
(Tue.)NORMAL GALAXIES
Chapter 24
20
Apr 8
(Thr.)ACTIVE GALAXIES AND QUASARS
Chapter 25
21
Apr 13
(Tue.)COSMOLOGY
Chapter 26
22
Apr 15
(Thr.)COSMOLOGY.
Chapter 26
23
Apr 20
(Tue.)THE EARLY UNIVERSE.
Chapter 27
24
Apr 22
(Thr.)LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE.
Chapter 28
25
Apr 27
(Tue.)LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE.
Chapter 28
26 Apr 29
(Thr.)END OF SEMESTER REVIEW
Chapters 1, 3-5, 16-28
TBA
Final Exam
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Homework will be assigned on weekly intervals, using the on-line WebAssign system. A description of WebAssign may be found here.
Homework questions will be drawn from both material covered in lectures and material in the relevant chapter(s) of the course textbook. You are expected to have done the appropriate readings and familiarized yourself with the material covered in class.
Deadlines: Assignments will be due one minute before Tuesday midnight every week, beginning January 21 and ending on April 21. Assignments will be graded and returned via WebAssign approximately one week after the due date.
IMPORTANT: because homeworks are handled by a computerized system, it is impossible to accept homeworks after the 11:59pm deadline. No exceptions can be made, no matter what the reason for the delay is. You are therefore strongly encouraged to submit your homework well in advance of the deadline.Copied Homework: It can be beneficial to discuss homework questions with your fellow students, but your submitted answers must be in your own words. Representing someone else's work as your own is a serious infringement of academic integrity that is reportable to your College Dean.
Homework Scores: There will be twelve homework assignments. However, only your ten best homework scores will count towards your grade for the course.
Completing the homework assignments is essential is you wish to get a good grade in the course, for three reasons:
- Homework counts for 1/3 of the final grade for the course.
- It is easier to get a higher score in the homework than in the exams.
- Doing the homework wil prepare you for the exams: many of the exam questions will test the material covered in the homework.
Homework Assigned
6:00pm on WednesdayDue
11:59pm on Tuesday1 01/21/2004 02/03/2004 2 02/04/2004 02/10/2004 3 02/11/2004 02/17/2004 4 02/18/2004 02/24/2004 5 02/25/2004 03/02/2004 6 03/03/2004 03/09/2004 7 03/10/2004 03/23/2004 8 03/24/2004 03/30/2004 9 03/31/2004 04/06/2004 10 04/07/2004 04/13/2004 11 04/14/2004 04/20/2004 12 04/21/2004 05/04/2004 [ Return to Top of Page ]
There will be one mid-term exam, held on March 9th. The time and date of the final exam will announced in class. Make-up exams will be offered for both the midterm and the final exam.
Only those people who are unable to attend the regular exams because of a class conflict, a medical/family emergency (which must be documented, for instance by a doctor's note), or other serious and unforseen events (which must be documented) will be allowed to take the make-up exam.
Due to the large enrollment in this course, the final exam will be held simultaneously in three different rooms. The room assignments are as follows (see also the Table below).
Students having last names beginning with the letters A-G (inclusive) will take the exam in SC-123 (College Avenue Campus).
Students having last names beginning with the letters H-O (inclusive) will take the exam in LSH-AUD (Livingston Campus).
Students having last names beginning with the letters P-Z (inclusive) will take the exam in SC-135 (College Avenue Campus).
Pictures, maps and directions for these buildings/rooms may be found be clicking on the Location links in the Table below.Both exams (midterm and final) will be multiple choice, computer graded, and closed book. Calculators are not required, though you may bring one to the exam if you wish.
The midterm exam will be based on the material found in Lectures 1-13 (inclusive) and Chapters 1-5, and 16-21 (inclusive). The final exam will be based on the material found in Lectures 14-26 (inclusive) and Chapters 22-28 (inclusive).
In preparing for the first midterm, you may wish to practice on the midterm from a previous year.
Solutions to the midterm exam are now available here. Please see WebAssign for your exam scores.
In preparing for the final exam, you may wish to practice on the final from a previous year.
The final exam will not be cumulative (i.e., it will contain only material covered since the previous exam).
MPORTANT: During the midterm and final exams, you will be asked to present the appropriate identification: i.e., a valid Rutgers student ID card. Students lacking the appropriate identification may not be allowed to take the exam!
Date Mid-term Exam
Location Mar 9 (Tue.)
8:00 - 9:00 pm
ARC-103 (students A-I)
LSH-AUD (students J-P)
BE-AUD (students Q-Z)
Mid-term Exam (Makeup)
Mar 10 (Wed.)
8:00 - 9:00 pm
PHY-LH
Final Exam
May 11 (Tue.)
4:00 - 5:00 pm
SC-123 (students A-G)
LSH-AUD (students H-O)
SC-135 (students P-Z)
Final Exam (Make-up)
May 12 (Wed.)
7:00 - 8:00 pm
The course grade will be determined by your overall score out of 300, which is made up as follows:
Mid-term exam:
Up to 100 points
Final exam:
Up to 100 points
Homework:
Up to 100 points
NOTE: the cumulative homework score (out of 100 points) is given by half the sum of your ten best homework scores (each of your homework assignments will be graded out of 20 points).
Note that the maximum score that can be obtained from the mid-term and the final exam is 200. Therefore it is impossible to get a good overall grade without a good homework score.
An approximate guide in calculating your final letter grade from the above system, the following table shows the conversion used in previous years. Note, however, that this conversion should be viewed only as an rough guide, and the final grades will be determined only after all scores exam and homework scores are available.
A
85% to 100%
B+
80% to 85%
B
70% to 80%
C+
65% to 70%
C
50% to 65%
D
40% to 50%
F
0% to 40%
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The textbook for the course is Astronomy Today (4th Edition), by Chaisson and McMillan, which is described more fully here. There are, however, many other good textbooks available for introductory courses on astronomy and cosmology. You may want to consult some of these other books from time to time. I recommend:
- The Universe Revealed, by Chris Impey and William K. Hartmann. Published by Brooks/Cole.
- Universe, by Roger A. Freedman and William J. Kaufmann. Published by W.H. Freeman and Company.
- Astronomy: From the Earth to the Universe, by Jay M. Pasachoff. Published by Brooks/Cole.
- Foundations of Astronomy: by Michael A. Seeds. Published by Brooks/Cole.
- Astronomy: Journey to the Cosmic Frontier, by John D. Fix. Published by McGraw Hill
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- Read the appropriate text sections before each class so that you get the maximum benefit from the lectures.
- Attend all lectures and come prepared with questions on the material.
- After reading the material, try several of the sample questions at the end of each chapter of the text and check your answers against the solutions in the back of the book.
- Do all of the homework assignments!
- Do not wait until the last minute to submit your solutions with WebAssign.
- If you have any questions/concerns about the material or content, talk to me during office hours or immediately before or after the lectures.
- In preparing for the examinations, work through the past exams .
- Be sure you understand how the answers are derived. Do not memorize answers!
- Do not wait until the last minute to start preparing.
- Do not skip questions you cannot do. See me instead.
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11. Students with Disabilities
Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability, you are urged to speak to the course supervisor early in the semester to make the necessary arrangements to support a successful learning experience. Also, you must arrange for the course supervisor to receive a letter from your College's Disabilities Coordinator verifying that you have a disability. A list of the College Coordinators can be found here.
[ Return to Top of Page ]The Campus Kids Evening Childcare Program is available during 6th period classes. For information, either phone 732-545-6681, send email to jromsted@rci.rutgers.edu, or see the website www.ckchildcare.com.
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Recommended web browser to view this site is Netscape Navigator 4.0 (or above) with video display supporting at least 256 colors.
High color (16 bit) or true color (24 bit) display is preferred.
